4.3 Strategies & Actions in Response to Change in Gulargambone

1. One federal and one state government department that funds and helps with projects in small and regional towns include:

·         The Australian Government’s Department of Transport and Regional Services

·         The NSW Department of State and Regional Development

2. Two government programs that Gulargambone has used to receive funding for various projects include:

·         The Townlife Development Program

·         The Sense of Place Program

3. A rural transaction centre is a community owned post office. It is important as it provides needs of the community and avoids closure of the local post office.

4. The GRTC offers Giropost, Centrelink, Medicare, Internet access and the Reliance Credit Union along with the usual postal services and a small, but modern gift shop.

5. The community has responded to Gulargambone’s change in a positive and effective way. The groups have lobbied government and non-government organisations for funding and assistance.

6. Three examples of different actions and strategies the Gulargambone Flying Ahead group has implemented in response to the changes include:

·         The increase of population and services that are available

·         The improvement of the visual appearance of the town

·         The increase of police presence

7. The two eight two eight project involved the restoration of the former picture theatre into a vibrant and multi-faceted community centre.

8. Some examples of active citizenship in the achievements that Gulargambone has made since 2000 include:

·         The opening of the Rural Transaction Centre and the community-owned post office in Australia

·         Lobbying for and receiving a new multi-purpose health centre

9. The Coonamble Shire Council as well as the local government have been supportive of the Gulargambone Flying Ahead program and has provided financial assistance for many of the projects.

10. In the before and after photos of the two eight to eight café renovations, we can see that many beneficial changes have taken place. The old theatre looked run down and really bland which ruined the look of the town. With the renovations, the café has been painted, cleaned, and is crack free.

11. There are many reasons to explain why active citizenship is necessary in small communities like Gulargambone. Firstly, small towns are hardly noticed by the rest of the population and do not receive as much support as cities do. This makes it hard for developments and action plans to be made when the town is overlooked. Also, the populations of rural towns is very low making it hard to organise events and strategies for town occasions meaning that the whole population must be determined.

12. a.) This article is about Gulargambone and it’s, “fight for survival.”

b.) The writer states that the causes of the decline in Gulargambone is the collapse of their economy and the ravages of the drought.

c.) The decline of the town resulted in the collapse of businesses as shops, banks, petrol stations  and other services were removed and closed down.

d.) The community galvanised into action for many reasons. The post office came under threat of closure; the nearest post office was 2 hours away. The community took on the government when it planned to close the town’s hospital as well.

e.) The post office was so important as the nearest one was a two-hour drive.

f.) The town painted shops as well as acquiring a town logo – a galah – and constructed sculptures of them which line the highway and streets. The restoration of the towns old picture theatre was soon completed, being turned into a vibrant community centre named 2828 (their postcode).

4.2 Change in Gulargambone – Causes & Impacts

1. Drought affects rural communities in many ways. It causes economic hardship for the agricultural population, which has an effect on businesses, jobs and the local economy of the area. Downfalls in the rural economy also have social ramifications including a loss of morale and increased welfare dependency.

2. One of the major consequences of the soldier settler blocks being sold was that the neighbouring farms bought them making an increase in farm land, and a decrease in farms.

3. The three main factors which have caused a decline in agriculture are:

·         The selling of the soldier settler blocks reducing the amount of farms

·         The collapse of the wool industry

·         The rising costs in agriculture

4. Mechanisation has contributed to unemployment due to the takeover of machines. The machines that have replaced workers skyrocketed the unemployment record in Gulargambone.

5. Small country towns like Gulargambone have started to decline due to lifestyle factors as well as better roads and transport. Today, many people do not want to live in small communities as they do not have the same levels of access to services, facilities and entertainment. The upgraded transport have allowed people from country towns to access larger centres nearby.

6. There are many reasons to suggest why Gulargambone has been subject to rural decline. The rising cost of agriculture in the last 20 years has resulted in lacked financial support for the town. The invention of machines and technology for farms has made a decline in jobs and boosted the unemployment record. In the last 10 years, Gulargambone has been under serious drought conditions making life hard socially, economically and physically.

8. The population of Gulargambone has risen and decreased over the last 50 years. In the 50’s, the population was 900 due to the baby boom as well as the under developed cities making more people live in the rural areas. From the 70’s onwards, the population decreased due to the fall of the baby boom as well as the development of major cities improving jobs and entertainment.

9. The population pyramid for the town of Gulargambone is a very unusual shape. There are more females from 74+ purely because woman live longer than men. For men and woman, the elderly population of 50+ is quite high as Australia is an aging nation from the baby boom of the 1950’s.

10. a.) In the 50’s, the population boomed and gradually declined over the years.

b.) The enrollments of the Gulargambone Central School have had major trends over the past 50 years. When Gulargambone was at its social, demographic and financial peek during the 60’s, the enrollments sky rocketed to over 300. With the agricultural, drought employment difficulties, of the 70’s onwards, the population plummeted as the living standards and economical standards plummeted.

11. Social: Transport and roads as well as life expectations.

Economical: Decline in agriculture

Environmental: The Drought

4.1 Gulargambone - An Australian Community Facing Change

1. Rural Decline is when the population of a rural area declines due to the migration to urban areas.

2. Gulargambone is a small rural town located on the Castlereagh River, halfway between Gilgandra and Coonamble in the central-west region of New South Wales. It is located 115km north of Dubbo and approximately 500km north-west of Sydney at a latitude and longitude of 31°20´S and 148°29´E. It lies in the Coonamble Shire Council Area.

3. Atmosphere: Gulargambone has a temperate climate with periods of extreme heat in summer, up to 45°C, and cold winters as low as -5°C.

Hydrosphere: The average annual rainfall is 580-595 millimetres and it can be highly variable. The town lies on the Castlereagh River that is usually dry, it flows underground.

Lithosphere: The terrain is flat to undulating and the soils are fertile black and red types.

4. The soldier settler blocks was the agricultural land surrounding the township split up by the Australian Governments for the returned soldiers of WWII. The blocks contributed greatly to Gulargambone’s growth as the soldiers brought wives and families creating a mini-boom in population through the 1950’ and 1960’s

5. Two main economic activities taking place around Gulargambone are Agriculture and Forestry. The main agricultural activities are grazing of sheep for wool and meat, beef cattle, and the production of cereal crops like wheat, oats, barley and oilseeds like canola. Timber is sourced mostly from the Pilliga forest near Coonamble as exports.

6. 447 people live in Gulargambone and 1072 people live in the district as of the 2001 census.

7. The CDEP is the Community Development Employment Program and assists to employ and train local Aboriginal people.

8. b.) i. Gular Silos: NNW of Gulargambone

ii. Warrawee: N of Gulargambone

iii. Tailby State Forest: NWW of Gulargambone

9. a.) i. Bourbah: 31°18´S and 148°16´E

ii. The Maze: 31°22´S and 148°16´E

iii. Inglewood: 31°15’ S and 148°22’ E

b.) i. Tailby State Forest: AR6253

ii. Gulargambone: AR6353

iii. Dragon Cowal: AR6151

c.) i. Tailby State Forest: 4.5 squared kilometres

ii. Bourbah State Forest: 3.5 squared kilometres

d.) i. Approximately 10 buildings

ii. Approximately 20 buildings

10. 4.30 has the largest scale as it is the biggest area

Mapping Skills

Source A-C
What is the predicted population growth rate in 2030? Around 1.9%
What is the predicted population change in 2030? Around an annual change of 55 million
What region of the world is predicted to have the greatest gross increase in percentage between 1800 and 2050? Africa

Source D
How many males and females are there in Ethiopia for the age range 60-64 in the year 2000? 1,000,000 together
How many males and females are there in Italy for the age range 60-64 in the year 2000? 3,600,000 together
Why do you think that there is such a difference between these two countries? The major difference between these two countries can be shown by the fact that Italy is far more liveable than Ethiopia. The average terminating age in Ethiopia is far less than Italy.

Source E
What is located at GR831979? Dicks Hill
What is the highest point at AR7997? 490m
What is the contour interval for the map? 100m
What physical feature is located at GR820975? Wet Swamp
Approximately how far is the Laurieton Sporting Complex from Hanleys Point on the Camden Haven Inlet? Approximately 1km
Give the GR for the North Haven Public School. GR830000
What is the highest point at Camden Head? Give the height and GR. The highest point is 79m and is located at GR849986

Go Back to Where You Came From

1.     I believe that the show is really confronting and is really different from other shows. I think that the show is really interesting in that it provides different views and thoughts on refugees and asylum seekers.

2.    1.5% of immigrants are refugee

3.  In Australia, people make their way in life by working hard and being rewarded for it, and yet many refugees are coming to Australia illegally, and are getting paid by the government to do nothing. Australians believe this is very unfair, angering many citizens because they are having to pay to have them live here and live a good life.

4.    Australia ranks 18^th when compared to 19 countries and their refugee intake

5.    I believe, to a certain extent, that we should bring in more refugees and should support them in there need. We have plenty of room and compared to the other countries, we take in very little compared to most refugee friendly nations.

6.    Refugees receive 0.8 of financial support compared to all Australians

7.    11 countries in Asia have signed the UN Refugee Convention

8.    It is important to note that Malaysia has not signed the UN Refugee Convention as it conveys to the world that Malaysia does not support Refugee’s. As shown in the show, this means that it is a lot harder for Malaysian’s to come to Australia.